


hello, welcome home

by sleebyama



Series: ocean eyes [1]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, M/M, Minor Background MaxAnne and Flane, Rarepair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 07:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19883704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleebyama/pseuds/sleebyama
Summary: Captain Low, notorious pirate captain and smuggler, once a Lieutenant in Her Majesty’s Navy, now one of the scourges of the New World. Well known on Nassau, despite the man never stepping foot on the Island.Jack Rackham, quartermaster to the Ranger, under the combined protection of the notorious Charles Vane and vicious Anne Bonny. Runs half of Nassau with the help of his partner Max, the madame of a local brothel.*Jack is kidnapped and smuggled out of Nassau, whether it’s because he’s going to be used as a bargaining chip or for information, it happens. He would be worried, if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t pinpoint why Captain Low looked so fucking familiar





	hello, welcome home

Okay so it’s not like he expected Charles to just let him be taken by Ned Low in the middle of the night, but Captain Low was smarter and bolder than Charles expected and Jack is used to Charles summoning him in the middle of the night so he just went. And instead of Charles it was Ned Low and Jack is feeling rather stupid. Captain Low’s quartermaster ties his arms behind his back and gags him with a bit of rope and a rag before he’s being tossed into a launched and rowed out from Nassau.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He tries to say, although he’s severely hindered by the gag, when he’s been taken to an island and pushed into a dirty, dark and damp cell in a cave. How did Ned Low even have an island like this at his disposal? 

Jack is sitting in his cell. Inside a cave. In the middle of nowhere and his only company is Captain Low who visits him for approximately two hours out of his day and the Captain doesn’t even say a word to Jack, just stares at him like Jack is a puzzle to be solved. And if Jack were a better person he’d be planning his escape, but something about Ned Low is decidedly stopping him from doing that, because he doesn’t know why the man is so damn familiar. 

Day one, Jack is fed bread and water. There are no demands from Low or his crew, but the captain lingers outside his cell for a lot longer than necessary when his first mate brings Jack’s morning, midday and evening meals.

Day two, Jack is given a blanket when a storm rolls in and the cave gets colder. The storm will delay the _Ranger_ if Charles has noticed he’s gone. He doesn’t hold out for a rescue just yet, but he’s hopeful. Captain Low’s quartermaster offers him a bucket to wash his face and hands at dinner. Jack is grateful for the kindness from Low’s crew.

Day three comes, there is no breakfast, but a commotion above ground that Jack can hear even from his cell. The _Fancy_ ’s Quartermaster, Mister Meeks, the man finally introduces himself. Comes down later when it’s about maybe midday and apologizes. Jack gets twice the food for his troubles, and a quiet instruction not to eat all of it at once. Jack squirrels away some of it into his scarf and hides it between his back and the wall. 

Day four has Ned low sitting opposite him and watching him eat his breakfast. Ned Low lingers opposite him for an hour before his first mate, Holmes, interrupts their staring contest from the cell doors. When Jack asks Mister Meeks about it at dinner time, the blonde man shrugs and mutters something too quiet for Jack to hear and then leaves Jack to his own devices.

Day five, Jack’s nose is clogged and he’s sniffling almost every five minutes, even when Ned Low visits him during his midday meal, unbothered by Jack’s sneezing. By dinnertime, Jack’s blanket count is up by two and a small heating lamp has been placed inside his cell rather than outside the door. As he bundles up against the corner of the cell, he’s again grateful for the kindness.

Day six sees his sniffles and sneezing lessened. The blankets stay wrapped loosely around his shoulders as Ned Low visits both his breakfast, midday and evening meal times for about an hour each, all while staring at Jack curiously.

“I’m surprised you’ve not recognized me.” Captain Low says on his seventh day in custody of the Captain’s crew. It’s been a week and Jack is still in Captain Low’s possession. There’s been no word from Charles. None according to Low’s quartermaster. Jack squints at Captain Low and searches his face. He looks so familiar but Jack can’t place the line of his nose and the curve of his smile even though he knows he’s seen it before. 

“Don’t tell me I beat you in a game of dice and you’ve come to collect.” Jack muses sourly. Maybe that is the case and this is about money. Captain Low frowns. “If this is about money I’m sure we could come to-”

The cell door clangs shut and Jack is left alone, in his dark, dirty and damp cell, staring at where Captain Low was sitting only moments ago. 

“I really don’t know.” Jack mutters out loud into his empty cell, before he bundles himself in his blankets and settles himself back into the corner. 

* * *

“Have I really changed that much Jackie?” Captain Low says from the corner of his cell. It’s not normal practice for Captains to sit in cells with their prisoners, but Captain Low has been doing just that with him and Jack, is confused.

Jack is speechless, because Captain Low just called him Jackie and it’s been a while since someone’s called him that and not just Jack, or Rackham, or just hey you. Ned Low’s head tilts like he’s pondering something, and there’s something about the scar across Captain Low’s scar that Jack thinks, shouldn’t be there.

“London.” Jack murmurs in a sudden realization. Jack scrambles up from his corner in the cell and against all better judgement strides up to Captain Low to push his hair out of the way and look at the scar over his eye. “London, is that where I’ve seen you?”

Captain Low tolerates his touch without so much as a flinch, but he nods. He allows Jack to tilt his head, back and forth, side to side as Jack inspects him. Jack is suddenly aware , shockingly, about how familiar those blue eyes and the line of Low’s jaw is. His mind wanders back to London, before he met Anne. When he was still Jack Rackham running away from a debt in Leeds, when he lived a relatively normal life where the only thing he worried about was getting caught pickpocketing and cheating men out of games of dice. 

“Edward?” The boy who used to run around with him in the dead of night, running wild in the streets of their parish smiles back at him, with a bit more stubble than he remembers, but it’s him. Jacks fingers tremble on Edwards cheeks, before he’s met with blinding grin.

“I guess it has been a long time.” Edward laughs softly.

“You left.” Jack mutters, it’s half accusing, half a lament as he steps between Ned’s legs. His fingers curl against Ned’s cheeks and the captain’s hands come to his wrists. 

“I did leave.” Edward left as soon as he could to the New World to get away from everything, to get his freedom, Edward went all the way to Boston and left him behind. “I can’t say I didn’t.” He left Jack behind without so much as a letter. Then Jack had shoved all thoughts of his bright smile and pretty blue eyes out of his mind. Jack met Anne, at the tender age of twenty, and Anne was such a feisty thing at thirteen and he killed her husband and stole her away to the New World.

He’d forgotten about Edward.

“I have missed you Jackie.” Edward swipes a thumb over Jack’s bottom lip. Jack remembers Edward’s touch, soft and gentle. Eighteen year old Jack remembers this, having something. Edward hooks his legs around him and drags him close, until they’re a hair's breadth apart. “You’ve done good for yourself love.” Edward’s voice is soft. “Quartermaster to the _Ranger_.”

“I had to.” Edward looks like he wants Jack to elaborate, but forgoes the questions to press a kiss onto Jack’s knuckles. They stand there for a while, trading soft kisses across each others knuckles, slowly and gently, stuck together in their own personal bubble.

“Capt’n?” Mister Meeks is lingering outside the cell. “Does this mean we can let him out now?” Ned barely flinches underneath Jack’s hands, nor does he pull away. Meeks grins at the both of them from the other side of the cell doors. 

“Of course.”

Edwards crew is pleasant. So is Edward and Jack’s missed him so much. He has the same mannerisms that Jack remembers. He still kisses the same, soft and gentle and enrapturing. He stills holds onto Jack like they’re going to caught at any moment.

He’s moved out of the cells into Ned’s quarters on the island. They are so much warmer than the cells and Ned is fast to have the fire going in the pit and a jacket and coat wrapped around Jack. Ned is everything that he remembered but so much more. He’s still so familiar in the way Ned kisses him, or when he reaches out for his hand while they’re dining with Ned’s crew. 

Everything feels so familiar and so right, he forgets how he’s gotten to Ned in the first place.

* * *

_He met Edward when he was just fifteen. Edward was sixteen, a year older than him but unlike the other boys their age, Edward never looked down on him. Edward found him in the rain, while it was pouring down in the streets of Westminster. Edward never asked if he had a family, Edward never asked if he was alone, on his own, never asked him why he looks over his shoulder some days like Jack thinks he’s being hunted._

_“My name’s Edward.” The blonde boy standing over him grins and holds out a hand. Scrawny and hungry, Jack takes his hand, and what starts as a little offering of friendship turns into so much more._

_Their first kiss is in the rain, in an alleyway behind the whorehouse where no one can see them while they hide under the balconies. Edward takes his face in his hands and kisses him, rushed and hurried. Edward was unused to the motions just like Jack was, and they kissed for hours in the rain, until they were drenched, before they ran back to Ned’s house and stayed under his covers._

_Jack knows that by the day Edward leaves that he’s probably, most likely hopelessly in love with him. He also knows that he’ll never see Edward again. So he forgets about the comfort of a warm bed and what it felt like when he woke up next to someone he loved. He strapped his belt tighter around his waist and held onto his dagger, Edward’s dagger, and he disappeared into the dark of the night._

* * *

Charles and Anne finally swoop in and save him. It’s rather inconvenient, as Anne and Charles and the rest of their crew burst in with weapons drawn while they’re finishing up dinner. Meeks and Holmes are the only ones that have their weapons ready, and they’re the first to move, levelling their pistols at the door as Charles brandishes his own pistol. 

Ned’s hand tightens around his as they both push their chairs back and stand. “Now, darling.” He aims the pet name towards Anne as he steps forward, letting Ned’s hand slip from his. He’s sure that neither Charles or Anne missed it, but he steps up to them anyway and wraps a gentle hand around Anne’s wrists. 

“Darling there’s no need for this.” Anne’s eyes flick across to Ned who has his own hand hovering over the dagger he’d been eating his dinner with. “Please.” Jack tries once more.

Slowly, Anne lowers her short swords and reaches out for him, dragging him into a hug despite the people surrounding him.

“Jack what’s going on?” Charles rumbles, a hint of a growl in his words as he takes in the room. 

“Well…” Jack lifts his face out of Anne’s hat to look at Charles. His expression is sheepish as he uses his shoulder to gesture towards Ned. “He’s… not actually going to hurt me, if you’re willing to believe it.” 

“He took you,” Charles growls, still with a white knuckle grip on his pistol. “He took you in the dead of night.” 

Jack pauses, glancing over his shoulder at Ned. “He did.” Jack admits. “But he’s not hurt me in all the time I’ve been here.” 

“Let’s go home Jack.” Anne curls her fingers into his sleeve. Home, home being Nassau, where Charles and Anne are. Home at one point in his life, was curled up in bed with Edward and caressing his cheek as the first rays of morning light came through the window. Home used to be with the man standing behind him. 

Jack clenches his eyes shut for a moment, before he lets out a small, quiet sigh. “Can I just have a moment, with Captain Low?” He breathes out as he opens his eyes. At Ned’s gesture the crew of the Fancy stand down, weapons at their sides but untrained on anyone from the Ranger’s crew. 

“What’re you doing Jack?” Charles grumbles, but he lowers his pistol to look at him with a worried look. Jack can still read him like a book some days. Anne’s a mystery to him but Charles has always made sense. Jack glances between the two of them, before he lowers his voice.

“I will come back with you if you just for once, let me handle things without bloodshed.” Jack says in a rushed whisper.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Charles huffs but he stares at Captain Low and flits his eyes back and forth between them before he makes a decision. Flint really does have a good influence on him. Charles lets his hand land gently onto Anne’s bicep and steers her away from Jack despite her protesting eyes, gesturing to the _Ranger’s_ crew to stand down. 

Ned’s eyes are hard to read when he turns back around. Blue eyes watch as he takes step and step towards him. Ned reaches out to take his hands in his when Jack’s less than two strides away, dragging him close despite the audience in the room.

“I can’t come with you Jack.” Ned finally says after they’ve shared a few breaths, faces less than an inch apart.

“I just got you back.” Jack whispers, laments, and presses his forehead against Ned’s forehead before he squeezes his eyes shut. “It’s not fucking fair.” 

“They’re your family, the _Ranger_ is your home, Nassau-.” Ned says knowingly, fingers slipping against his, locking them together. Jack searches his eyes once more. “You have to go Jackie.” 

“I don’t want to lose you again.” Jacks lifts both his and Neds hand to their chests, fingers slightly trembling as he angles in for a kiss. It barely lasts long enough, before Ned pulls away from him. Jack’s bottom lip twitches.

“You’ll find me again Jackie, one day.” Ned rubs a thumb over his cheekbone and smiles softly. 

“You can’t promise me that.” Jack steps back while he says it. Ned shakes his head, lowering his gaze. It doesn’t hurt when Ned lets go of his hands, or when Ned’s knuckles brush once more against his cheek affectionately.

Jack leans in for one last kiss, to savour it and how sweetly Ned holds onto his cheek, like he doesn’t want to let go.

“Come to Nassau soon.” Jack offers with a whisper once he pulls away. 

Ned chuckles weakly and lets his eyes flutter shut. “You should go, they’re waiting for you.” Jack holds Ned’s hand until it slips out of his grasp while he steps away. He has to take a few deep breaths before he can well and truly walk away from Edward, it won’t hurt now.

Jack glances over his shoulder. Meeks and Holmes are already flanking their Captain, saying something too low for him to hear. He strolls up to Charles and Anne, ignoring the look Charles gives him as he hugs Anne and kisses her top of hair lightly. 

“Let’s go home.” He says.

When they’re on the Ranger, he gives one last glance to the island behind them, barely lit in the moonlight.

* * *

  


_Three Years Later_

Nassau thrived under strife, but she thrives under Max’s management much better than it ever did under Eleanor Guthrie’s. Sure it is the Urca gold that Charles and Flint had brought back together that funds her control, but the moment Eleanor Guthrie had turned her back on the island and sided with her father was the day that Nassau truly belong to them, rather than the Guthries. 

Light streams in through the window of his room. He knows for a fact that Charles is still in his room, out cold from the drinking they did the night before, with Flint tangled up with him, because he can hear them both snoring. Jack knows that Anne isn’t home because Giselle had sent a boy with a letter for Anne to meet Max for dinner and no one was home when he and Charles came home that night.

Domesticity suited them, in an odd, familial way. There had always been the three of them in the end. Charles almost died for the two of them. Anne risked her life to protect the both of them in their stupidity, and Jack almost lost his head to protect the both of them from people tried to use them. It worked.

It was right for a time.

Jack crawls out of bed to knocking on the door, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes, before he pulls on a loose shirt least his pale skin gives whoever’s at the door a shock. He grumbles as he pads barefooted across their wooden floorboards, feet cold despite the sun shining on the floor. 

The person at the door knocks again, fist firm against the wood. 

“Alright, give me a moment!” Jack finally calls out as he snatches a scarf up, it’s Charles’, not one of his own, and slings it around his throat. 

Outside, the man with a note in his hand waits patiently, rubbing a thumb over the fancy seal that Max has fashioned from herself as a new ‘governess’ of sorts of Nassau. The letter inside the envelope was simple.

“What can I do fo-” Jack’s voice dies in his throat. Edward smiles, lifting his gaze from the letter in his hand to Jack Rackham. 

“Ed?” Jack Rackham is speechless. 

“You asked me to come… well I’m here.” He says and rubs the nape of his neck with his palm. Edward chuckles, ducking his eyes as a blush spreads across his cheeks. 

Jack practically bowls him over in the doorway with a hug, wrapping long arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Edward’s heart thuds wildly in his chest when Jack pulls away far enough to look him in the eyes before kissing him.

They end up waking Charles by being too loud once they stumble inside, only to earn a gruff “fuck you jack” and a flipped bird at them, before Charles shuffles back into his room to go back to sleep.

“Welcome home.” Jack breathes once they’ve tumbled into bed. Edward curls his hand tighter around where it’s on Jack’s hip and buries his face into Jack’s dark hair. He is home.


End file.
